1. Field
The following description relates to a refrigerator using a plurality of compressors, and a control method for the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A refrigerator is an apparatus that keeps food and beverages, for example, fresh for a long time.
A refrigerator has a plurality of storage compartments including a freezing compartment in which food is kept below a freezing temperature, and a refrigerating compartment in which food is kept at a temperature slightly above freezing. In addition, a variable temperature chamber for long time storage of fresh goods, such as vegetables and fish, for example, may be provided.
Such a refrigerator keeps a storage compartment at a predetermined target temperature via an iterative implementation of a refrigeration cycle consisting of compression, condensation, expansion, and evaporation of a refrigerant. That is, the refrigerator supplies air, cooled by an evaporator provided for each storage compartment, into each storage compartment based on a target temperature of the storage compartment, thereby keeping the storage compartment at the target temperature.
Conventional refrigerators keep a freezing compartment and a refrigerating compartment at respective target temperatures using a single evaporator and do not provide appropriate cooling environments.
In recent years, a refrigerator in which evaporators are respectively provided at a freezing compartment and a refrigerating compartment has been developed. The refrigerator includes a switching valve to control a flow path of refrigerant to be supplied to the evaporator provided at the freezing compartment or the refrigerating compartment, such that the refrigerant, condensed through a compressor and a condenser, is supplied to the evaporator provided at the freezing compartment or the refrigerating compartment according to temperatures of the freezing compartment and the refrigerating compartment.
However, the aforementioned refrigerator adopts a single compressor and a single condenser, causing difficulty in simultaneously cooling the freezing compartment and the refrigerating compartment, which differ greatly in target temperature. Moreover, due to addition of a variable temperature chamber for storage of fresh goods, such as vegetables, fish, or meat, and a considerable increase in capacities of the freezing compartment and the refrigerating compartment, insufficient compressor capacity has become a major issue.